Playing cards have been in existence for many years. Although there are many types of playing cards that are played in many different types of games, the most common type of playing cards consists of 52 cards, divided into four different suits (namely Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs) as indicated on one side or the face of each card. In the standard deck, each of the four suits consists of 13 cards, numbered either two through ten, or lettered A (Ace), K (King), Q (Queen), or J (Jack), as also indicated on the face of each card. Thus each card will contain on its face a suit indication along with a number or letter indication. The King, Queen, and Jack usually also include some sort of design on the face of the card, and may be referred to as picture cards.
In some cases, the 52 card standard playing deck also contains a number of extra cards, sometimes referred to as jokers, that may have some use or meaning depending on the particular game being played with the deck.
Many different games can be played using a standard 52 card deck. The game being played with the standard deck of cards may include other items, such as game boards, chips, etc., or the game being played may only need the playing card deck itself. Further, the four different suits indicated on the cards may have a particular value depending on the game. Under game rules where one suit, i.e. Spades, has more value than another suit, i.e. Hearts, the seven of Spades may have more value than the seven of Hearts. It is easy to visualize that using the different card quantity and suit values, many different games can be played. In one aspect, the playing card deck can be a virtual system that can be played electronically.
More importantly, some playing cards are designed for educational purposes. By combining learning and/or memorizing new stuff with entertainment makes the game playing educational. Illustrative examples of the new stuff, such as musical notes, mathematic multiplying table, etc. and learning methods include those set forth in the following disclosures.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0137108 published on Jul. 24, 2003, entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses an educational entertainment deck of cards comprising of fifty cards with each card containing the outline of a state of the United States and a two-letter abbreviation of the state. The United Stated Educational Cards are for playing educational games, and learning important information about the states of the U.S. In some aspect, a deck of playing cards that contain the outlines of other geographical territories or nations with names can be designed for enhancing geography recognition and learning.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0057649 published on Mar. 27, 2003, entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses a word forming game apparatus comprising four identical alphabet letter and joker supplies, each of which is printed in one of four different colors, wherein each letter supply means consists of fifty alphabet letter with certain more frequently used letters provided in plural numbers, plus two joker tiles for a total of 52 tiles printed in each of four colors. The effect of four different colors enhances the playing pleasure and fun.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0062683 published on Apr. 3, 2003, entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses a deck of playing cards (52 cards plus 2 optional “jokers” which are generally used as substitutes for lost originals) wherein each card in the four suits (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs) includes the distinct indicia thereon plus alphanumeric Ace through Ten plus Jack, Queen and King which by this invention are improved by including in the printing of each card, an individual paragraph of jokes on top of the alphanumeric symbols as a unity. This improvement augments all the traditional uses of playing cards by combining all the ancient uses of decks of playing cards with jokes.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0165805 published on Sep. 4, 2003, entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method of playing a card game for learning, the method comprising the steps of: providing a deck of cards that includes at least one fact area on every card, the fact area containing information being at least one of a complete factual statement and a complete equation; dealing the cards to players to provide each player a hand and to begin the card game, non-dealt cards forming a stack; reciting at least one fact area on a card during the course of the card game so that the recitation provides an opportunity for learning the information associated with the fact area, and wherein the deck of cards includes four suits comprising hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades, and each suit including cards of rank.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,132, entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method for teaching musical notation to a child. Each note is associated with a distinctly identifiable color, which is in turn associated with an object which naturally occurs in this color. Each object, in turn, is associated with a cartoon character which prominently incorporates an image of the object. Each character is endowed with a distinctly identifiable personality characteristic which enables the child to utilize the cartoon character in an educational activity. These relationships allow the child to apply relatively sophisticated symbolization techniques which are a part of the child's natural developmental process in order to master the musical notation system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,756, entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses an apparatus for teaching musical notation to students by playing familiar card games. A deck of playing cards is utilized which contains musical notation and colored suits rather than the typical numbers with named suits. The musical notation symbols are printed in the corners of the cards to allow them to be used in card games. The deck can be used to play a variety of common card games that take advantage of unique musical notation.
None of the aforementioned inventions discloses a deck of playing cards containing a plurality of suits with at least one suit represented by language style, with the possibility of at least one suit represented by picture style, each and every card within a suit having exactly one matching card with identical index and identical meaning(s) of content in each other suit, for learning and memorizing vocabulary, phrases, and sentences in foreign languages against one's native language and pictorial presentation on matching cards through game playing.